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HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP

On a regional level, house hunters get the most space for their money in the North East, where the average price per square foot is £124, creeping up just 3 per cent in five years.

Second cheapest is Wales, where the average square foot cost £137, up 9 per cent in the same period.

The average square footage in Blaenau Gwent, in South Wales, is the lowest at £79

TOP 10 LONDON BOROUGHS WITH THE HIGHEST GROWTH IN PRICE PER SQ FT SINCE 2012

Rank

Borough

2017 Price Per Sq Ft (£)

2012 Price Per Sq Ft (£)

Difference in price (£)

Percentage change

1

Newham

£422

£227

£195

86%

2

Waltham Forest

£498

£271

£227

84%

3

Barking and Dagenham

£344

£199

£145

73%

4

Lewisham

£493

£289

£204

71%

5

Greenwich

£429

£254

£175

69%

6

Croydon

£398

£244

£154

63%

7

Southwark

£649

£399

£250

62%

8

Brent

£532

£329

£203

62%

9

Lambeth

£620

£385

£235

61%

10

Hackney

£685

£427

£258

61%

Source: Zoopla based on Hometrack data

Zoopla's Lawrence Hall said: 'Analysing property prices per square foot is an effective way of seeing where you can achieve the most space for your money and can help steer you to areas you may want to focus your property search on, depending on your budget.

'The home counties have performed very well since 2012 in addition to some London boroughs, such as Newham and Waltham Forest, which have seen increases of more than 80 per cent per square foot.

'This is no doubt in part due to the significant investment regenerating the area for the London Olympics.

'However, if you're looking to maximise the amount of space possible on a budget, you should look to the Midlands and North to ensure best value for money.'

Christian Warman, director of Tedworth Property Group, said: ‘Square footage is particularly important in central London where prices are often quoted as price per square foot as well as the headline price.

‘It can be mis-leading as there are many other factors at play for property on the same street or in a similar location, such as orientation, aspect, floor level if an apartment, ambient noise and problem neighbours.

‘One of the biggest red herrings to ascertaining value on a price per square foot basis is not considering the volume or ceiling heights. As a rule properties with low ceilings will be significantly less valuable than those with high ceilings.

The impact low ceilings can have on property value

Christian Warman gave an example of a property being sold in Knightsbridge, West London, where the vendor's valuation hadn't taken into account the impact of having low ceilings:

‘I remember in particular an apartment on Cadogan Square which looked perfect on paper and sounded about the right price when the vendor told me over the phone how much he wanted for it.

'But on inspection the ceiling height was unusually low – I’m six foot and could touch it in places with an outstretched arm and on tiptoes and it was a large flat, which meant it was even more noticeable.

'The vendor insisted it wouldn’t influence value and so another agent took it on at a higher price than I was comfortable with.

'After the other agent had done 100-plus viewings with no sniff of an offer, I met with the vendor again and he agreed I might have been more accurate. We took the property on at the price it should have been and within six viewings had an acceptable offer.

'It still looks good value on paper, but not when you consider the volume.’

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